Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

[pclausen]

I'm meeting the builder this morning, so I'll be sure to show him the hardwood floor issue. I think matching quarter round to the baseboard is ok after all. I'm used to it always being stained, but I can see it either way. I think in the rooms with the hardwood flooring, it might look nicer to have it in a color similar to the floor itself. I'll let mom decide when she comes over.

On the deer fence, there will be a dual leaf swing gate, 8' tall, that should keep them from walking up the driveway.

 

[pacerron]

Pete,
That just frustrates me to no end and it's not even my house. Unless this is the first house the hardwood floor installer has ever done, he knows he should be compensating as he lays the floor. That HW installer just doesn't give a rip. The only real fix would be to tear it all out and start over and that's just not going to happen. Finish work makes a house, and at the $/S.F your mom is paying, you should get better.

On a more constructive note, you might be able to put a threshold in the doorway that might mask the drift issue.

A threshold might cover the floor mess at the door but shouldn't be necessary and the door could become another chipped mess by the procedure used in sawing it off. Any added tripping hazards should be avoided for folks in there 70's.
Just from what shows in the picture you can see that the flooring is not parallel to the wall line, all along that wall. Take away the cardboard and view the floor near that wall from 4-5' back in the room. That is what any potential future buyer will see and be turned off by. The builder knew hardwood flooring and tile were being used, so should
have made it important to get the walls as parallel as possible with 90 degree corners. Even so, they rarely are perfect, but the flooring installers take measurements, snap chalk lines, choose the 2 most parallel walls to run the flooring parallel too, and compensate by leaving a gap coverable by the baseboard later, between the first board and starting wall so that the floor will come out right on the other end. It would be interesting to measure diagonally between the 4 corners to see if the walls were framed properly or if it is just a lousy flooring installation?
Check the instructions on the box to see if the flooring boards should have been layed out in the rooms for a few days to acclimate to the environment? As I recall they were installed soon after arrival, right out of the box.
Ron

 

[kevin37b]

It's a darn shame all this sloppy work is showing up in the end product . That yard is sure gonna look good when it comes in .

 

[Gator6x4]

Years ago when building a house an elderly gentleman who was installing the tile advised have the hardwood down first and then he would correct at the doorway to prevent such as shown happening. He advised a good tile man could hide a out-of square room better than a hardwood floor installer.

My guess is the tile was installed first and then the hardwood installer assumed the room was square and would connect at the doorways without a problem and we all can now see the end results of that assumption.

 

[Ted Summey]

A threshold won't cover the out of square flooring error. It might minimize the visual of the error some. A threshold will just transfer the out of square error over. The flooring will then look out of square to the threshold. It seems to me the hardwood should run perdendicular to the door 90 degrees to the way it is laid now. Any out of square would be better compensated and hidden that way. No threshold needed and less likelihood of shrinkage of the flooring along its length - therefore less gap at the tile when the humidity drops.

 

[Obed]

AThe builder knew hardwood flooring and tile were being used, so should
have made it important to get the walls as parallel as possible with 90 degree corners. Even so, they rarely are perfect, but the flooring installers take measurements, snap chalk lines, choose the 2 most parallel walls to run the flooring parallel too, and compensate by leaving a gap coverable by the baseboard later, between the first board and starting wall so that the floor will come out right on the other end. It would be interesting to measure diagonally between the 4 corners to see if the walls were framed properly or if it is just a lousy flooring installation? ... Ron

The walls in our living room are not parallel or square. Yes we had a lousy framer. One end of the room is 1/2" wider than the other. However, the hardwood flooring installer took measurements before he began and compensated by spacing all the boards slightly to make up the 1/2" difference. When he was done, you would never know an issue existed.

As expensive as tile and hardwood floor materials are, it just doesn't make any sense to have some jack-leg do the labor. I'm afraid that Pete's contractor is really to blame here for hiring someone who shouldn't be doing that type of work. I wonder if he is trying to meet Mom's moving deadline and just hired the first flooring guy that was available - the guy who was not busy for obvious reasons.

Obed

 

[Obed]

Pete,
Is there any more hardwood flooring left to be installed? If yes and if I were in your place, I would be sure to tell the contractor that the first hw guy is not to step foot back into your house. It wouldn't surprise me if the same guys who installed the trim also installed the hw flooring.
Obed

 

[ljnelson109]

I have been wondering about Ron's concern regarding acclimating to the space. If I am remembering correctly, the space could not have been climate controlled prior to the installation as the outside unit for the heat pump was delivered the same day they started the hardwood. I would definitely be concerned about how this hardwood is going to behave through the first few season changes.

Lee

 

[pclausen]

I was wondering about the acclimation process myself. I'm hoping that being this is pre-finished hardwood, that perhaps that is less of an issue. I'll go look at one of the boxes to see what it says about it.

When I had the hardwood floors redone in my house, the contractor made a point of leaving it here for 3 days before starting. Now mom's house has no ceiling insulation yet, nor a working HVAC system yet. Last night temps got down near freezing and today they got up in the 70's. So huge temp swings. They started putting down the hardwood flooring within hours of it arriving Saturday....

They completed the hardwood flooring in 2 days (Saturday and Monday). 3 rooms have it, the 2 bedrooms and the office. At least it runs the same direction in all 3 rooms, which was not a given since none of it is connected.

These are not subs, the hardwood (and tile crew) are direct employees of the builder (as are the electricians, framers, roofers, and excavator). The only subs were:

Concrete
Plumbing
HVAC
Painters
Rock veneer

In the master bedroom, there are actually 2 door entrances in the same corner as seen here.

Here's the office

I think they made the right decision with running it in the direction they get, when you consider the 2 other rooms. I still need to measure the diagonals to see if the master bedroom room is square or not. The other 2 rooms do not appear to have the "drift" issue.

The 6x6 tile finally came in, so they were able to continue laying that down today

I told the tile guy yesterday to make sure the pattern would line up at the kitchen entrance and I suggested laying it down dry first to make sure there was no "drift" here either. Looks like he listened to my suggestion.

Sun room is grouted (as are the bathrooms). We went with a charcoal grout.

Moving outside, I have been trying to keep up with watering the lawn

I moved the one controller to the yard hydrant and told the tile guys to use the Y outlet for their water needs so that the automatic irrigation would always be pressurized for when the timers kicked off

I picked up another 4 station irrigation unit for the back yard.

I believe I am starting to see the little hair like sprouts now

But there is definitely quite a but of that unwanted broad-leafed crap grass as well. At least it will help hold things together during the next thunder storm (change Thursday and Friday)

 

[pclausen]

Hmm, went to bellawood.com website and this is what they say:

Installation area and subfloor must be dry, stiff and flat within industry standards. The installer should use a moisture or vapor barrier. The moisture content of both the flooring and the subfloor should be checked with a moisture meter and recorded before any work begins to ensure that the difference in moisture levels between the flooring and the subfloor is no more than 4% for flooring 2 ¼" or less in width or 2% for flooring wider than 2 ¼".

The environment must be controlled to NWFA recommended temperature (60*F - 80*F) and relative humidity (30% - 50%) standards for at least five (5) days prior to installation and throughout the life of the floor. This will help to ensure optimum performance of the floor. Uninstalled flooring should be stored in a climate controlled area at all times.